Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Reviewed by Matthew D.

You are a firefighter in a kitchen fire. You make a split second decision to get out. Seconds later, the floor collapses, and you find out that it was a fire in the basement, not a fire in the kitchen. How did you know this?

Blink is a psychological non-fiction book about how people can make split-second life-saving decisions in the “blink” of an eye. Art experts can decide in a flash that a sculpture is fake. For example, a plainclothes police officer can interpret a scene of a life-or-death situation in a fraction of time. President Ronald Reagan's assassination took just 1.8 seconds. In an assassination attempt of a South Korean boy, an assassin stands up and shoots himself in his leg. Then, he shoots at the president and hits the president’s wife. Later, a bodyguard shoots back and hits an eight year-old boy. This sequence took three-point-five seconds. Throughout the book, you can read many different other stories and learn how Blink works.

First, I enjoyed this book since it had a lot of real-life evidence to support much of the book’s information and the author tells the information through interesting stories. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the Pepsi Challenge, where Pepsi and CocaCola race to become the world’s most popular soft drink company. Gladwell says: “In the early 1980s, the Coca-Cola Company was profoundly nervous about its future. Once, Coke had been far and away the dominant soft drink in the world. But Pepsi had been steadily chipping away at Coke's lead.” Before I read this, I did not know that Pepsi and Coke were such big competitors.

Next, Malcolm Gladwell makes the concept of Blink relatable by describing everything in great detail and making someone who is not a psychologist know what he means. This is important because there is no point in reading a book in which the concept is not reinforced and known. Malcolm Gladwell also shows both sides of the equation. Gladwell tells us about a man named Golomb, who is an excellent car salesman: “Being a successful salesman like Golomb is a task that places extraordinary demands on the ability to thin-slice.” You can really compare your life and experiences to the story in the book.

All in all, I would rate this book 9/10 and I would encourage teens, adults, and more mature audiences to read. Other books by Malcolm Gladwell include Talking to Strangers, David and Goliath, What the Dog Saw, Outliers, and The Tipping Point. What are you waiting for? Time to cuddle up and dive into a great book!

Back Bay Books, 320 pages